Cascades is planning to build a new containerboard packaging plant in New Jersey. To be located in the city of Piscataway, Middlesex County, the new plant will manufacture corrugated packaging products. It is estimated to require an investment of $80m and is expected to create 120 jobs.

Cascades claims that the new plant will be among the most modern of its kind in North America and among the fastest in the industry.

Construction on the project is expected to begin in 2017, while operations are scheduled to start in the second quarter of 2018.

Details of Cascades’ new plant in Piscataway

The proposed plant will have a capacity of 2.4 billion square feet a year, upon installation of the entire equipment.

The surface area of the facilities will exceed 400,000ft², and the company intends to use state-of-the-art technology to help oprimise production.

Background of Cascades Piscataway packaging plant

Investment in the new corrugated packaging plant is part of Cascades’ strategy to modernise its assets and its efforts to reorganise and consolidate its containerboard and packaging activities in north-east US. As part of the same strategy, the company announced plans to close and subsequently sell its packaging plant in Maspeth, New York. It expects to earn $72m from the plant sale.

Cascades aims to further integrate its primary production with conversion activities through the new plant in Piscataway. The project is expected to help improve the integration rate by roughly 5%.

Site selection for the new packaging plant

The new plant in Piscataway will be built on an abandoned site, which formerly hosted a chemicals plant. The site was selected because of its close proximity to the major urban centres along the eastern seaboard of the US. Furthermore, the site offers sufficient space for potential future development.

Benefits of Cascades’ new packaging plant

In addition to increasing the company’s production capacity, the new plant in Piscataway is expected to help Cascades improve its services to customers, strengthening its market position.

The plant will be designed to be flexible in order to meet the changing customer needs. It will allow providing more efficient and innovative products to customers, according to Charles Malo, president and chief operating officer of Cascades Containerboard Packaging.

Cascades’ corrugated packaging products

Cascades will manufacture corrugated board containers in multiple configurations at the plant.

The corrugated offerings include waterproof-coated boxes in waxed and waxless variants, insulated shipping containers for seafood, cheese and meat preservation, corrugated boxes in regular, die-cut, pre-print and bulk variants, and corrugated display racks. The company also manufactures moving boxes, which offer maximum resistance to lateral impacts and vertical loads.

Marketing commentary on Cascades

Cascades manufactures packaging and tissue products made primarily from recycled fibres. Founded in 1964, the company has approximately 90 production units in North America and Europe, employing 11,000 people.

In addition to containers, the company offers multiple varieties of food packaging products, as well as protection and handling products.

The company has witnessed significant growth in the recent decade through a number of acquisitions and units, including Cascades Tissue Group – Papersource, Cascades Enviropac Aurora, Norcan Flexible Packaging, Greenpac Mill, Norampac – Bird, and Cascades Tissue Group – Wagram.

In 2016, the company recorded $4bn in revenue and earned a net profit of $135m. Containerboard and tissue papers together accounted for the majority of the sales during this period, accounting for 67%.